Manually releasable mop head having resiliently biased clamping bars



July 5, 1955 F DUNN 2,712,144

MANUALLY RELEAS ABLE MOP HEAD HAVING RESILIENTLY BIASED CLAMPING BARS Filed Oct. 11, 1954 V EN TOR.

F'Pa n/r gum? United States Patent MANUALLY RELEASABLE MOP HEAD HAVING RESILIENTLY BIASED CLAMPING BARS Frank Dunn, Spokane, Wash.

Application October 11, 1954, Serial No. 461,327

4 Claims. (Cl. 15151) This invention is an improved mop head which is specifically constructed to permit removal of a mop from the mop head without necessitating manual contact with the mop.

The objects of the invention are to provide a strong mop head which comprises a minimum number of parts assembled with facility and is subject to easy manipula- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved mop head with a portion of the mop handle, and disassociated from a mop;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the plane of line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken on the plane of line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a horizontal cross section upon an enlarged scale and taken on the plane of line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical cross section through the ball and socket joint uniting the outer clamp bar and a frame member; and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 and showing the releasable confining recess connection between the outer clamp bar and the opposed frame member.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, I have shown a mop head 10 which is carried by the lower end portion of a mop handle 11 having an axial bore 12 in its lower end. The mop head 10 is secured to the handle 11 by means of a metal ferrule 13 and as is conventional, a diametrically disposed rivet or pin 14 extends through the ferrule and the mop handle 11 to unite the elements. Substantially midway its length, the ferrule 13 is provided with a radially extending headed pin 15 which constitutes a detent, the use of which will be subsequently described. The detent 15 may be welded or otherwise secured to theferrule or may extend through the ferrule and be anchored into the handle 11.

Welded or otherwise secured at 16 to the ferrule, I provide a pair of diametrically opposed downwardly extending frame members 17 and 18. As seen in Figure 1, these frame members 17 and 18 diverge for a portion of their length and at 19 are bent and terminate in spaced parallel extending portions 20.

At its lower end, the frame member 17 is provided with a ball socket 21, while the frame member 18 is "ice provided with a recess 22 which is axially parallel with the axis of the handle 11. The recess 22 has a mouth 23 which permits access thereto by movement laterally of the recess.

At their lower ends, the frame members are provided with an outer clamp bar 24 which has a ball 25 pivotally united within the ball socket 21, and has a downwardly projecting protuberance 26 at the end opposed to the ball and adapted to fit into the recess 22 to secure the free end of the outer clamp bar to the frame member 18, and yet permit its automatic release when the protuberance 26 is permitted to raise out of the recess 22.

As in all conventional hand mops, the mop is placed over the outer clamp bar 24 and then an inner clamp bar 27 is lowered toward the outer clamp bar 24 in spaced parallel relation thereto, and clamps the mop therebetween. Inspection of Figures 1 and 2 will reveal that the inner clamp bar 27 is provided with a plurality of pyramidal teeth 27' which operate to prevent accidental displacement of the mop from between the two clamp bars 24 and 27.

At its ends, the inner clamp bar 27 is provided with apertures 29 which encircle the frame members 17 and 18 and permit vertical movement of the clamp bar 27 away from the outer clamp bar 24. A guide post 28 is welded or otherwise secured midway the length of the inner clamp bar 27, and extends upwardly and is telescopically associated with the bore 12 of the handle 11.

A yoke 30 has an aperture 31 through which the guide post 28 extends and is reciprocable, and terminates in upwardly extending substantially parallel diametrically opposed arms 32, at least one of which is provided with a plurality of anchor slots 33 cooperating with the detent 15 for selectively positioning the yoke 30 longitudinally of the handle 11. By moving the yoke to the dotted line position of Figure 2 where the slots 33 are removed from the detent 15, the yoke is freely shiftable to a selected position and may again be engaged or locked where desired. The upper ends of the arms 30 are united by means of an annular ring or sleeve 34 which encircles the ferrule 13 of the handle 11 and guides movements of the yoke 30.

A compression spring 35 is interposed between the yoke 30 and the inner clamp bar 27, and as the yoke is lowered with respect to the handle 11, the spring 35 is compressed, thus producing bias on the clamp bar 27 and urging the clamp bar 27 into clamping relation with the bar 24. Obviously, mops having greater density and thickness of body will prevent downward movement of the inner clamp bar 27 to some extent, and therefore a selected one of the anchor slots 33 is applied to cooperate with the detent 15 to provide sufficient tension to maintain the mop in the clamped position.

It will thus be obvious from the foregoing description that one may release the yoke by removing the anchor slot 33 from the detent 15 and thereupon raise the yoke, decompressing spring 35 and releasing tension on the clamp bar 27.

By disposing the hand mop with its handle 11 and the outer clamp bar 24 on a common horizontal plane, the weight of the mop carried by the outer clamp bar 24 will cause the bar 24 to pivot its free end out of the recess 22 and let the mop slide from the end thereof.

It is therefore evident that a mop may be removed from the disclosed device without touching the mop to be removed, thus providing an extremely desirable mop for cleaning purposes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A mop holder comprising an elongated mop handle having a metal ferrule about its lower axially bored end and a pair of diametrically opposed downwardly extending diverging frame members; an automatically releasable outer clamp bar extending between said frame rnembers and pivotally connected to the lower end of one frame member by means of a ball and socket joint, and releasably secured to the lower end of the other frame member by means of a confining recess; an inner clamp bar mounted for free reciprocation onsaid frame members toward and away from said outer clamp bar inv parallel relation thereto under control of a spring; 'a guide post carried by said inner clamp bar and reciprocally associated in said bore; a compression spring encircling said guide post and abutting said inner clamp bar; a yoke having an aperture through which said guide post extends, and upwardly disposed arms united at their upper ends by means of a sleeve encircling said handle; at least one of said arms having a plurality of anchor. slots; and a detent fixed on the lower end portion of said handle to be received successively in selected slots to adjustably position said yoke for compressing and releasing said spring to control. said inner clamp bar, whereby the inner clamp bar yieldably maintains theouter clamp bar in its confining recess.

2. .A mop holder comprising an elongated mop handle having a metal ferrule about its lower axially bored end, and a pair of diametrically opposed downwardly extending diverging members; an outer clamp bar extending between said frame members and pivotally connected to the lower end of one frame member for movement in a plane disposed at right angles to the axis of said handle, and releasably secured to the lower end of the other frame member by means of a confining recess; an inner clamp bar mounted for free reciprocation on said frame members toward and away from said outer clamp bar in parallel relation; a guide post carried by said inner clamp bar and reciprocally associated in said bone; and resilient means selectively adjustable to bias said inner clamp bar toward said outer clamp bar for maintaining the outer clamp bar in said confining recess and releasable to effect removal of said outer clamp bar from said recess.

3. In a mop holder having a handle supporting a pair of diametrically opposed downwardly extending diverging frame members; an outer clamp bar extending between said frame members and pivotally conencted to the lower end of one frame member for movement in a plane at right angles to the axis of said handle; the other frame member being provided With a confining recess; the free end of said outer clamp bar having a protuberance for cooperating with said recess to releasably secure said free, end to the lower end of the recessed frame member; a resiliently biased inner clamp bar mounted for free reciprocation on said frame members toward and away from said outer clamp bar in parallel relation; and guide means fixed relative to said inner clamp bar and operably associated with said handle to guide said reciprocal movements.

4. In a mop holder, means for releasing a mop therefrom without manually touching the mop, comprising a mop handle having a pair of diametrically opposed downwardly extending diverging frame members rigidly fixed thereon; an outer clamp bar pivotally connected to the lower end of one frame member for movement in a plane at right angles to the axis of said handle and extending to the lower end of the other frame member and releasably secured thereto; means including a spring biased inner clamp bar mounted for free reciprocation on said frame members toward and away from said outer clampbar in parallel relation for fixing and releasing said outer clamp bar with relation torsaid frame member; and yoke means associated with said first named means and extending upwardly of and reciprocally encircling said handle for manual manipulation from a point removed from the mop head for selectively biasing and releasing said inner clamp bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 659,918 Froberg Oct. 16, 1900 700,675 Campbell May 20, 1902 899,437 Rivers Sept. 22, 1908 I 1,268,769 Poole June 4, 1918 

